


Turning Saints into the Sea

by Skypan



Series: Jealousy [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot Spencer-centric, Established Hardison/Parker, F/M, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, Pre-Slash, This is the product of me having no internet for 5 days and watching all of season 1 of Leverage, and that's saying something, everyone is ooc, the most self serving thing i've written in a long time, un-betaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 05:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20615573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skypan/pseuds/Skypan
Summary: Eliot has been pining for Hardison for a long time.Read the tags





	Turning Saints into the Sea

Turning saints into the sea

Eliot is not jealous of Parker. He isn’t.

So what if she gets to hold Hardison’s hand? So what if she gets to lie in bed with him at night, gets to hold him, to kiss him? So what if they share gooey-eyed looks across the conference table?

It’s not like Eliot has been in love with Hardison since the first minute (second, millisecond) he saw him. He doesn’t look at him and catch his breath. And he has never fantasized about what it would be like for Hardison to kiss him.

No, Eliot is perfectly happy with his never ending string of numbers in his little black book.And that’s what he would tell anyone, if they asked.

Not that anyone _has_ asked. He’s no Sophie, but he’s a pretty good actor when he needs to be. And he really needs to be, because it is killing him to watch the man he loves with someone else. Or, no. No, its not that he’s with someone else. It’s that he’s with someone else and not him. Parker makes Hardison happy, so Eliot wants her to be in his life. He wants her in both of their lives, she’s one third of their trio, one of his best friends.

And, if he’s being honest, he could be attracted to her. Heck, it would make more sense; she’s much more his type (as far as his track record shows; he never tries to pick men up, knows it wouldn’t be him). A skinny blonde with a wild side is totally his speed. Really, it would be no skin off his nose to date both of them.

Just so long as he got to be with Hardison, he thinks he could deal with anything.

But he doesn’t get to be with Hardison. So when a mission is over and they walk off together for the millionth time, he grits his teeth and finds the nearest bar.

** *******************

_Ow, my head_ is Eliot’s first thought upon waking up. He’s got a pounding headache, the kind that only comes from too much tequila. _Okay, Advil first thing it is. _

He manages to force his eyes open, planning to crawl his way to his medicine cabinet, but he stops. He’s not in his bed. He’s not even in his apartment. Slowly, so as not to increase the throbbing of his head, he looks around. He’s in someone’s king sized bed. The room is pretty neutral, nothing too obviously feminine or masculine. There’s a potted fern in the corner, and someone has kindly kept the curtains closed so minimal light comes through. On the bedside table nearest him he spots a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water.

Gratefully he takes two, then drinks half the water.

Usually the next step of this routine would be to find his clothes, dress, and leave, but he’s still fully dressed. Actually, he’s dressed in someone else’s clothes. A t-shirt that’s a little too tight around the shoulders and sweats that are too long for him. _Did I hook up with a guy last night? _

He chugs the rest of the water, then swings gingerly out of bed. He hasn’t quite kicked the headache, but he’s had worse.

With nothing else to do, he decides to brave whoever he hooked up with. With luck, maybe they’re out and he can just find his stuff and leave.

Dread creeps into him as soon as he steps out of the bedroom. He knows whose apartment this is, he’s just never been in the master bedroom before. And worse, he can hear hushed voices down the hall.

_Shit._

He takes a second to center himself, staring at a framed photo on the wall. It’s of the whole Leverage crew, back before Nate and Sophie’s retirement. It was taken right after a job, all of them dressed nicely. They’re all a little tipsy, grinning at the camera. Eliot remembers leaning on Hardison a lot that night, pretending to be drunker than he was so he’d have an excuse.

_Well, no use putting it off any longer_, he thinks, then heads down the hall into the open area that is the main room.

Parker looks up from her spot at the table. “Hey sleepy head,” she says with a grin.

He gives her a smile, then glances over at Hardison, who’s making scrambled eggs.

“Morning,” Hardison says over his shoulder. “You feeling okay? You were pretty drunk when you got here last night.”

“I must have been, I don’t remember any of it,” he says truthfully.

His friends freeze for a moment, sharing a look he can’t decipher.

“You don’t remember anything?” Hardison asks.

“Nothing.”

“Come take a seat,” Parker says, pushing out a chair with her foot.

Eliot obliges, figuring he might as well get a free breakfast if he has to hear about whatever dumb shit he’s done now.

Hardison serves him up a plate of eggs and toast, then gives him a mug of coffee. He takes a sip.

_Just right_, he thinks bitterly. _Why does it always have to be just right?_

“So,” Hardison says awkwardly, taking his seat. Across from him, next to Parker. Eliot tries not to see it as a sign, like he’s choosing her again, especially when he rests his hand on top of hers on the table. It’s like they’re concerned parents in a sitcom. It makes Eliot want to hurl.

“We know you want to join us,” Parker blurts. Time freezes. Eliot stares at his coffee, unable to look at either of them.

“What?” He manages to croak out after what feels like a century.

“Last night, you said- Well you said a lot of things,” Parker says, glancing at Hardison. “But we got the gist of it- You want to be part of our relationship.”

“What exactly happened?” Eliot asks, narrowing his eyes. Why aren’t they more freaked out right now? “What did I say?”

“You cried a lot,” Hardison says gently. “It was kind of hard to make out what you were saying, but you said some stuff about feeling left out, and then…”

Hardison stops himself, looks like this part is hard for him. He looks at Parker, and she picks it up for him.

“You kept saying ‘I’m sorry, but I love you’. Like, over and over again while you cried. It was really sad.” Eliot’s heart sinks. They know everything. They know he’s in love with Hardison, and that he’s stupidly jealous and so, so lonely. He’s been hiding this for years, now all of his work has just been thrown out the window.

Distantly, he wonders where he’ll go when they ask him to leave. _Maybe Fiji. Everyone is always saying how nice Fiji is._

“Oh…” He says intelligently. “Well… I… I’m sorry about all of that. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“Its okay,” Parker says quickly, then nudges Hardison. He nods, squeezes her hand.

“Yeah man, I get it. Parker’s really great, who wouldn’t want to be with her. I should have suspected you’d fall for her too,” Hardison says agreeably. “I can’t promise I’ll never get jealous, but if you want to explore-“

_What?_

“Dammit Hardison, I’m not in love with Parker!” Eliot says before he can stop himself. That stops Hardison.

“What?”

Eliot should have taken the easy out, pretended to love Parker anyway. But he can’t, not when he’s so close and so far from everything he’s ever wanted.

“I’m not in love with Parker,” he says firmly.

“But… That would mean…” Hardison glances at Parker in confusion.

“I think I had better let you two talk about this,” Parker says. She gives Hardison a kiss on the cheek, then, surprisingly, gives one to Eliot too. She gets up and heads down the hall. Hardison waits until he hears a door shut to start asking questions.

“You’re not in love with Parker?”

“No,” Eliot says. He picks at his eggs, wondering if it would be weird if he asked for them to go before he has to leave. They’re really good, but his stomach is tied up in knots.

“Eliot…” He’s never heard someone say his name so tenderly in his whole life. “Are you in love with me?”

He can’t say it. Not even now that it’s been spelled out, he can't say it out loud. Slowly he nods his head, looking down at the table again.

“Eliot, can you look at me? Please?”

“I really don’t think I can,” He says, his voice rusty with emotion. It makes his accent stronger.

Hardison lets out a breath, then there’s some shuffling. He’s getting up, and Eliot knows any second now he’s going to be asked to leave and never come back. Hardison’s feet come into view next to his chair. He’s wearing black socks that have a binary code on them, ones and zeroes in green. Eliot wishes he found that more dorky than he does endearing.

Gently, Hardison cups his cheek, makes him look up. Eliot’s breathe catches in his throat. Hardison slowly leans down, giving Eliot plenty of time to pull away.

_Is this really happening?_ Manages to cross Eliot’s mind before all of his thoughts are overtaken by _HardisonHardisonHardisonHardisonHardisonHardison_-

And then they’re kissing. Its nothing like Eliot imagined, and yet so much better. He had always pictured their first kiss being passion fueled, maybe after one of them almost died or something. This is gentle, sweet, slow. It’s everything he could have wanted.

Much too soon, Hardison pulls away. Eliot tries to chase him for a second, then stops himself, feeling embarrassed at the display of desperateness.

“I’ve been in love with you for years,” Hardison says, gently stroking his thumb over Eliot’s cheek.

“You have?” He asks, dumbfounded. “But what about Parker?”

“I’m in love with her too. I think I fell for both of you at the same time, if we’re being honest. But she actually seemed interested, and I thought you were straight, so,” Hardison shrugs. Eliot’s heart is soaring.

“I’m not. Straight, I mean. I thought I was for a long time, but since I met you… Yeah, definitely not straight.”

He gets a bashful smile for his confession, and Eliot would do anything to see that again.

“We have to talk about this more later, you know. What it means for the three of us. Because I still love Parker-“

“I know,” Eliot cuts him off. “I’m okay with that. I’m not a jealous person. Well, not normally. And Parker is great, she’s one of my best friends, and she’s not bad to look at. She's... Parker. I think I could grow to love her too, maybe. If she’s willing to try, I’m willing to try.”

“We talked about it while you were asleep. She said she loves you too much to lose you, when we thought you were in love with her. And she knows how I feel about you, so honestly I think she was partly doing it so I would get to be with you too.”

“Wow,” is all he can think to say. Eliot feels so intensely grateful that he has such amazing people as his friends. As his more than friends. As his whatever they’ll have him as.

***************************

That night all three of them lay together in the king sized bed. Its kind of a ridiculous bed, there’s plenty of room for all of them.

Eliot lies in middle, flat on his back, the way he learned to sleep on stiff bunks in far away countries.

On one side Parker sleeps. She’s already curled herself partway onto him, her leg looping over his and her body turned towards him, drawn to his warmth. They haven’t kissed or done anything super romantic yet, but she gave him a big hug when they all sat down to sort out the terms of their relationship, and another one before bed.

On his other side is Hardison. They share a smile over how fast Parker falls asleep, and he shuts his eyes. He scoots closer, just so their arms brush when they move. They kissed many more times, alone and in front of Parker, who really didn’t mind at all.

As Eliot finally closes his eyes, all he can think is: _I could get used to this._


End file.
